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Well, you may have heard about Angelina Jolie's brave and unexpected announcement today that she recently had a double mastectomy,

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not because she has cancer, but as a way to prevent it.

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In an op-ed published in the New York Times, Jolie revealed that she has a genetic mutation that greatly increases her risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

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Incredibly personal information, obviously, that she chose to make public.

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Hers is one of the most recognizable faces in the world.

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As well known for her beauty as she is for her acting, the 37-year-old Angelina Jolie is a very public figure

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who has been fighting a private battle for the past three months,

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a battle against the same cancer that took her mother's life when she was 56 years old.

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"I carry a faulty gene," Jolie writes in the New York Times, "which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer."

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Jolie's mother died in 2007 after a seven-and-a-half-year battle with ovarian cancer.

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Doctors tested Jolie and determined she has an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of ovarian cancer.

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She writes, "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could.

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I made a decision to have a preventative double mastectomy.

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I started with the breasts as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex."

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It was a three-step process for Jolie, who had reconstructive surgery after her breast tissue was removed.

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"On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie writes.

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"I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

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Beyond movies and magazine covers, Jolie is also a humanitarian who has visited refugee camps all over the world for the United Nations.

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Jolie continued on her work despite her surgeries.

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In March, right after her second surgery, she took this trip to eastern Congo with Channel 4 News to bring attention to sexual violence in war zones.

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The next month, she showed up on the red carpet wearing a long black cape.

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She writes, "I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy, but it is one I am very happy that I made.

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I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

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Well, Zoraida Sambolin, co-anchor of CNN's "Early Start," was diagnosed with breast cancer just five weeks ago, with a very early form of breast cancer.

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She hasn't been tested for the breast cancer gene mutations, but she's decided, like Angelina Jolie, to have a double mastectomy.

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She hadn't shared her news with colleagues or the public until this morning and says that Jolie's openness empowered her to go public about her own decision.

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Zoraida joins me now, along with chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

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Sanjay, Angelina Jolie's surgery was preventative. She didn't have breast cancer. She had a genetic mutation.

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How common is a double mastectomy in cases like hers?

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Well, it's becoming increasingly common, Anderson, no question about it, as the testing has certainly gotten more sophisticated.

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And typically the scenario is that you go through genetic counseling first, so you have some idea when you get the test results back what they're going to mean.

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And then when the test results come back, you go through it again, as well as psychological counseling.

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If the decision is to go ahead and do the operation to remove both breasts, it's usually done fairly quickly, you know, within a month or so.

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But there are other options.

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Some people may say, "Look, I'm going to just be more vigilant about getting studies to look at the breasts and see if anything, any cancer is developing."

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Some people may go on a medication to try and delay onset of cancer.

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But one thing that's worth pointing out is... even since I trained, Anderson, is that the reconstructive techniques surrounding this are so much better.

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So if someone goes to sleep under general anesthesia knowing that they're gonna have the mastectomy, but then they wake up with the reconstruction already done.

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So it's changed a lot, Anderson.